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The Emergence of Private, Mega Philanthropy Foundations
and The Implications For Global Public Health
202x Trends and Perspectives- May 2, 2011, University Of Pennsylvania - CVEP
Osagie Imasogie
Senior Managing Partner
One Commerce Square
2005 Market Street, Suite 2030
Philadelphia, PA, 19103
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The Nature of the
Issue
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The Gates Foundation - Example
The Gates Foundation is one of the largest donors to the WHO,
giving sums (approximately $150MM) that amount to about 4% of
WHO’s overall budget in 2008 [*]
* WHO’s Budgetary Allocations and Burden of Disease: A Comparative Analysis,
David Stuckler, Lawrence King, Helen Robinson, Martin McKee; Lancet
372: 1563-1569
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The Gates Foundation - Example
Bill and Melinda Gates Pledge $10 Billion in Call for Decade of
Vaccines - Increased vaccination could save more than 8 million children by 2020;
significant funding gaps remain, others must join effort
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Bill and Melinda Gates announced today that their
foundation will commit $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop
and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries.
The Gates said that increased investment in vaccines by governments and the
private sector could help developing countries dramatically reduce child mortality by
the end of the decade, and they called for others to help fill critical financing gaps in
both research funding and childhood immunization programs.
January 29, 2010, Gates Foundation Press Release
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The Gates Foundation - Example
BERLIN -- German Development Minister, Dirk Niebel, met today with Bill Gates,
Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Berlin. During this meeting,
they signed an agreement for close cooperation between the Federal Ministry for
Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ, and the Gates Foundation. This
agreement encompasses the areas of global health policy, agriculture and rural
development, water and sanitation, urban development, as well as microfinance.
The Partnership will commence with a joint increase to the vaccine initiative, the
GAVI alliance with the commitment of the BMZ to increase its contribution through
innovative bilateral contributions. The ministry will increase its funding by €14m in
2011 for childhood immunization. In turn, the Gates Foundation will match this
amount through multilateral contributions to GAVI; the foundation will also match
any further increase in funds for 2012 and 2013 should Germany announce these
contributions ahead of the June GAVI Pledging Conference.
Bill Gates said: “We are very happy to sign this agreement that will make it easier
to cooperate on our common priorities of investing in smart aid, which can save
lives, improve living conditions and build a prosperous and stable society.
April 6, 2011, Gates Foundation, Press Release
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The Gates Foundation - Example
Smart Aid Works : The numbers are impressive:
•In the last 50 years, child deaths in the developing world have been cut by more
than 50 percent, despite the birth rate increasing;
•Polio cases have been reduced by 99 percent since 1988, and we are now on the
threshold of eradicating only the second disease in history;
•Measles deaths in Africa dropped by 92 percent between 2000 and 2008;
•Malaria cases have been reduced by 50 percent in 38 countries between 2000
and 2008;
•Ghana’s agriculture sector is growing at more than 5 percent a year and the
country cut hunger levels by 75 percent from 1990 to 2004.
“I come to Germany with the simple message that smart aid works,” Bill Gates
said. “And while we have facts and figures as evidence, it’s the lives saved and the
futures restored that are the real living proof that our investments in aid are
working.”
April 6, 2011, Press Release, Gates Foundation
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Top Five US Foundations-By Asset Size
The list below includes the five largest U.S. grant making foundations ranked by
the market value of their assets, based on the most current audited financial data
in the Foundation Center's database as of February 22, 2011. Fiscal records will
be updated when more recent audited financial information is obtained.
Rank
Name/(state)
1.Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (WA)
2.Ford Foundation (NY)
3.J. Paul Getty Trust (CA)
4.The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (NJ)
5.W. K. Kellogg Foundation (MI)
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Assets
$33,912,320,600
10,742,611,000
9,339,172,138
8,490,415,783
7,238,160,845
As of
Fiscal Year
End Date
12/31/2009
09/30/2010
06/30/2009
12/31/2009
08/31/2010
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More to Come… To Date, 69 Billionaires
My Philanthropic Pledge - Warren Buffett
In 2006, I made a commitment to gradually give all of my Berkshire Hathaway stock to
philanthropic foundations. I couldn't be happier with that decision. Now, Bill and Melinda
Gates and I are asking hundreds of rich Americans to pledge at least 50% of their wealth
to charity. So I think it is fitting that I reiterate my intentions and explain the thinking that
lies behind them. First, my pledge: More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy
during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. …
My family and I will give up nothing we need or want by fulfilling this 99% pledge.
Moreover, this pledge does not leave me contributing the most precious asset, which is
time. what I call the ovarian lottery. (For starters, the odds against my 1930 birth taking
place in the U.S. were at least 30 to 1. My being male and white also removed huge
obstacles that a majority of Americans then faced.) …
Were we to use more than 1% of my claim checks on ourselves, neither our happiness
nor our well-being would be enhanced. In contrast, that remaining 99% can have a huge
effect on the health and welfare of others. That reality sets an obvious course for me and
my family: Keep all we can conceivably need and distribute the rest to society, for its
needs…
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The Issues – Power & Influence Re: Public Policy
Private foundations
Data on the contribution made by private foundations towards international development are
relatively limited. The World Bank stated that in 2005 private donors gave roughly US$4–4.5
billion to international development, but noted that philanthropic giving ‘is significantly underresearched due to the lack of a world-wide data collection procedure’ (Sulla 2006).
The entry of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation into the global health landscape (bringing
with it also the donation of US$30 billion by Warren Buffett) has taken private, philanthropic
funding for international development, especially for health, to new and unprecedented
heights. One estimate of the amount of private foundation spending on global health in 2005
was US$1.6 billion, much of it coming from the Gates Foundation (MacArthur 2006).
In 2006, the Gates Foundation awarded 195 global health grants amounting to US$2.25bn in
total (McCoy et al. 2009). In terms of money paid out to global health grants, US$916 million
and US$1.22 billion were disbursed in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The Foundation is now a
bigger international health donor than all governments bar the United States and the United
Kingdom.
Global Health Funding: How Much, Where It Comes From And Where It Goes, Health Policy
Plan 24: 407-417, 2009
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The Issues – Power & Influence Re: Public Policy
The Rockefeller Foundation grew out of the Standard Oil Company and was
criticised for becoming a leading funder of the eugenics movement[1], and
subsequently for population control programmes linked to President Nixon’s
declaration that population growth in developing countries reduced access to key
raw materials and was therefore a “national security threat”[2].
[1] Black E (2003) Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection. San Francisco
Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL.
[2] Engdhal W (2005) Seeds of destruction: The geopolitics of GM food: connection between
Monsanto and The Rockefeller Foundation.
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showConnection.php?id1=238&id2=2472
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The Issues – Power & Influence Re: Public Policy
Money which ought to be in the hands of the public is being retained by
aristocrats for purposes beyond the control of democratic institutions; the
academic freedom of universities is being subverted by control of academic
budgets by the foundations; public policy is being determined by private
groups; the scientific and scholarly research and the artistic creativity of
individuals are being stifled by the emphasis of foundations on groupresearch; smallness and individual effort are thwarted by materialistic and
business-oriented demands of foundation management; foundations are
bastions of an elite of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant managers holding out
against the normal development of a pluralistic and ethnic society.
Karl B, Katz, SN (1981) The American Private Philanthropic Foundation And The Public
Sphere, 1890-1930. Minerva 19: 236-270.
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The Issues – Real and/or Perceived Conflict of Interest
The Rockefeller Foundation was criticised for having advanced the entry of
genetically-modified crops into new markets against popular opposition, while
having financial investments in genetically-modified-seed-producing companies
[3].
[3] Maessen J (2009) Beyond golden rice: The Rockefeller Foundation's long-term agenda
behind Genetically Modified Food. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13944
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The Issues – Real and/or Perceived Conflict of Interest
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http://mapper.nndb.com/maps/087/000012051/
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The Flip Side of The Issues
Country Comparison :: Life expectancy at birth
This entry contains the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same
year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future. The entry includes total population as
well as the male and female components. Life expectancy at birth is also a measure of overall
quality of life in a country and summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can also be thought of as
indicating the potential return on investment in human cap ital and is necessary for the calculation
of various actuarial measures. – CIA Handbook-2011
Rank
country
(years)
Date of Information
1
Monaco
89.73
2011 est.
5
Japan
82.25
2011 est.
9
Australia
81.81
2011 est.
12
Canada
81.38
2011 est.
27
Germany
80.07
2011 est.
28
United Kingdom
80.05
2011 est.
50
United States
78.37
2011 est.
57
Cuba
77.70
2011 est.
95
China
74.68
2011 est.
160
World
67.07
2011 est.
186
Ghana
61.00
2011 est.
192
Botswana
58.05
2011 est.
193
Rwanda
58.02
2011 est.
195
Cote d'Ivoire
56.78
2011 est.
196
Ethiopia
56.19
2011 est.
197
Sierra Leone
56.13
2011 est.
201
Cameroon
54.39
2011 est.
215
Zimbabwe
49.64
2011 est.
216
South Africa
49.33
2011 est.
220
Nigeria
47.56
2011 est.
221
Afghanistan
45.02
2011 est.
222
Angola
38.76
2011 est.
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The Flip Side of The Issues
Country Comparison :: HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate
This entry gives an estimate of the percentage of adults (aged 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS. The
adult prevalence rate is calculated by dividing the estimated number of adu lts living with
HIV/AIDS at yearend by the total adult population at yearend. CIA World Fact Book, 2011-
Rank
country
(%)
Date of Information
1
Swaziland
25.90
2009 est.
2
Botswana
24.80
2009 est.
3
Lesotho
23.60
2009 est.
4
South Africa
17.80
2009 est.
5
Zimbabwe
14.30
2009 est.
6
Zambia
13.50
2009 est.
7
Namibia
13.10
2009 est.
8
Mozambique
11.50
2009 est.
9
Malawi
11.00
2009 est.
10
Uganda
6.50
2009 est.
11
Kenya
6.30
2009 est.
12
Tanzania
5.60
2009 est.
13
Cameroon
5.30
2009 est.
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The Flip Side of The Issues
Per capita government expenditure on health at
average exchange rate (US$)
6,667
3,556
3,506
3,248
3,234
2,923
2,510
642
291
187
103
66
36
Country
Monaco
Germany
United States of America
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
Japan
Cuba
Botswana
South Africa
Angola
China
Zimbabwe
Year
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2007
Ghana
2008
28
Rwanda
2008
23
Nigeria
Cameroon
Côte d'Ivoire
Afghanistan
Ethiopia
Sierra Leone
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
2008
22
19
11
10
6
4
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Reflections
 Private, Mega Foundations are major players in International Public Health
These Foundations are and will continue to form, shape and direct International
Public Health issues and policy
A major reason for the relevance of these Foundations is the failure and/or inability
of governments in multiple countries to care for the health of their citizens
These Foundations are here to stay
There are important policy issues that this phenomenon raise and that need to
be reflected on and further discussed
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Phoenix IP
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An Intellectual Property based Merchant Bank…
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Philadelphia, PA, 19103
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